


Stand Tall

by Rrrowr



Category: Glee, Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-19
Updated: 2012-03-19
Packaged: 2017-11-02 05:27:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/365442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rrrowr/pseuds/Rrrowr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Young Blaine just wants to meet his idol.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stand Tall

Blaine was a nerd. That by itself was enough for him to get bullied, but being gay, too, just made things worse. When he could, he blended into the shadows to avoid getting the brunt of attacks, but today was not going to be that day. One of his greatest role models was presenting at the school this afternoon and like hell that anything was going to get in the way of Blaine shaking hands with the great Tony Stark at the very least. It was an idea better thought than done, however. Tony Stark, ever since the big reveal that he was also the superhero, Iron Man, was an incredibly popular idol for many of the students at the school. _Everyone_ wanted to get a piece of him and they fought tooth and claw to get near him.

The fact of the matter was that Blaine was quite small for being fifteen. He was rail thin and he didn’t take hits that well. He was an easy target, who was even easier to shove into the back of the crowd that was swelling around Stark after his presentation. Even though he dug in his heels to stay close, to at least catch a glimpse of Stark's face or _something_ , Blaine hit the far wall pretty quickly without having even seen the glint off of Stark’s presumably designer sunglasses.

Staring at the wall of bodies that was standing between him and his dream, a part of Blaine just surrendered. There was no way he was going to be able to dig his way through them. Turning away from a battle that there was no way of winning, Blaine slipped out the side door of the auditorium... and stopped to stare at the very impressively black limousine sitting curbside. It was Stark’s limo, of course; it could hardly be anyone else’s. The most amazing thing about it was that no one was lurking around it, but that probably had more to do with the fact that anyone who gave a shit about Tony Stark (read: everyone) was packed into the auditorium.

Jogging up to the limo, Blaine circled around it once, just to look at it. It even felt like it had Stark’s considerable stage presence. He kind of wanted to reach out and touch it, but couldn’t quite bring himself to do so.

“Get out of the way, loser.”

A hand had grabbed Blaine by the scruff, preparing to throw him to the side, when someone caught his arm to keep him upright.

“Hey, now,” said a voice that Blaine would have to be stupid not to recognize. “None of that.” Blaine turned slowly to look and sure enough, Tony Stark was there — decked out in the sleek lines of his suit, immaculately groomed despite the hoards of fans, and with one hand wrapped around the handle of a slim briefcase while the other gripped Blaine’s upper arm. He looked _amazing_. “You almost took quite a fall there, ...?”

“Blaine Anderson,” he quickly supplied.

Stark glanced around at the crowd around them, silently demanding space and astoundingly, everyone shrunk back. It was a little shocking to see it happen, actually, because Blaine had never known the student body to respect anyone of authority and to see Stark command them so effortlessly was just breathtaking.

It was probably only because of that shock that when Stark intoned, “Blaine, huh,” as he took a step closer that Blaine didn’t even think about giving way. He shrank into himself, hunched his shoulders and ducked his head, but he didn’t fall back. Stark made an approving sort of noise in the back of his throat.

“You’ve got some guts to be lurking around my car,” said Stark. “What can I do you for, Blaine Anderson?”

Blaine stammered over his reply. “I - I, uh, I just —”

“Speak up,” Stark told him. “Stand tall and tell me what you want. I don’t work for cowards.”

For a moment, Blaine couldn’t react at all, but Stark was waiting him out, silently and impassively. Blaine didn’t dare look at the people still watching them. It was enough that he knew Stark was watching him and that there was a vivid and slightly humiliated blush highlighting his cheeks as he slowly straightened out his back and shoulders and tilted his face to look at Tony Stark. Tony didn’t do much more than sort of smirk in response and raise a brow as if to egg Blaine on.

“All I wanted,” Blaine said — quietly, but more assured this time, “was to shake your hand.”

Stark tilted his sunglasses down at Blaine when he stuck out his hand and then he took the glasses off entirely and tucked them into the inner pocket of his suit jacket. “A pleasure,” he purred, fitting his hand around Blaine’s. His was a very large hand. When Stark moved to leave, stepping around Blaine and toward the limo, he slapped Blaine’s shoulder heartily. “Buck up, kid,” he said as he opened the car door and tossed in his briefcase. “You’ve got a future ahead of you. I can tell!”

The following week, Blaine got a letter from Dalton Academy for Boys that said, if he was interested, there was a full ride scholarship waiting for him in his name.


End file.
